Any tips on Whitetail tracking?

[Prodigal Son]

Lost a doe last night and I don't like that feeling. I'm soliciting any and all advice since I'm clearly not an expert.

Tracked for over 2 hours in the dark and was feeling good until we lost the blood and then 20 minutes after the last drop was found, freezing rain/slush started in and we couldn't even find a good back track.

Thoughts or tips to improve the process aside from the obvious "make a better shot"?

[TunaTeaser1]

I'm not an expert either but I have learned a couple tricks from some of the more experienced. First of all, I don't ever leave "last blood" with out having it marked. Toilet paper is a great tool for this actually, and if its raining you may want to use flagging tape. If you're on a solid trail you don't always have to mark, but when it starts thinning out, it's not a bad idea to mark all the blood and you can get a better idea of where the deer may be headed if you have to come back.

Also, always take a gun when your tracking! A guy shot the "buck of a lifetime" at the club I was at on friday. Found blood but decided to wait until the next day. Came back to the blood with dogs and 20 mins in the dogs had started circling. The two guys walk up and watch this moose slowly get up and trot off...not 20 yards away from them. Unarmed, there was nothing they could do- what a heartbreaker.

Don't feel too bad...I shot an 8 pointer saturday and couldn't find it. This is a shotgun/muzzleloader only club and I took my 10 gauge. Put a great shot on it, I don't see how I could have missed unless the gun didn't pattern that shot correctly. It was raining and we never even found any blood. Found some tracks and that was it. Problem with buckshot, at least in my experiences, is that they don't bleed out very much. I shot two does with that 10 that dropped stone cold this year and showed hardly any sign of being shot. I will head back there in a couple days if I can and look for buzzards I guess...

[Prodigal Son]

Thanks. Only complication to the wait till tomorrow tactic is that we were 1.5 hours away with a mountain between where we hunt and where we live. Add winter weather to that equation and a sense of urgency comes, as well as the very real possibility that if we do make it home, we aren't coming back for a while...slush and freezing rain at 1090ft = scary drive at 3300ft.

That was hopefully a unique situation though and ideally I'd have been up with the sun trying again.

That's the first deer I've lost, and it was a longer/tougher shot than I'd usually take, so that made it even worse. I got her in the scope and then backed off since it was a tough shot, but I told myself I wasn't going to get better by only taking 'gimme' shots so I lined it back up and pulled the trigger. She was laying in the field where I shot her when I got to a point to use binoculars, so I walked on up thinking she was done...10ft from her and she jumped up and crashed into a ditch 20 ft away...but then she got up and ran again, so we backed off and went and got lights and a another friend to help...

[welder]

The hardest thing to do is , WAIT, then wait some more .
They will bed down and Bleed out .

Em critters are tough , I think they will run a extra mile after they are dead if they keep getting spooked before there heart quits pumping.

Next time I would pass on the shot if it's longer than I'm use to because it's not fair to the animal or yourself.

[Prodigal Son]

Originally Posted by welder

The hardest thing to do is , WAIT, then wait some more .
They will bed down and Bleed out .

Em critters are tough , I think they will run a extra mile after they are dead if they keep getting spooked before there heart quits pumping.

Next time I would pass on the shot if it's longer than I'm use to because it's not fair to the animal or yourself.

Agreed on both. The waiting thing I'm usually good about, but she was laying down right where I shot, so I thought it was over...

As for the shot, it wasn't more than 175ish yds, which isn't too long of shot for me to feel comfortable taking (certainly like them closer), but she was slowly quartering away from me (grazing/walking) and my breath was slightly fogging my scope due to how I was situated in the stand/the mask I was wearing.

You can bet I'll pass next time and I felt really bad as soon as she jumped up, I hate seeing them suffer.

[Prodigal Son]

Went back and measured the shot that led to my wounding when I was out there yesterday: 185yds.

So now I know I either need to work on my 200yd shots or get better at deer calling.

[TunaTeaser1]

What kind of gun are you using?

[Prodigal Son]

Rem 700 in .308. Shooting 150gr Rem Core Lokt. Never had a problem. The buck I dropped earlier this season was same gun, same load and I measured that shot Saturday too: 109yds.

[TunaTeaser1]

I'd say work on that 200-250 shot. It's really not difficult if you have your scope properly set up. I shoot a .270 130 grain, and for me I set the scope 1.5" high @ 100 yards which puts me spot on @ 200 yards and about 2" low at 250 and about 6" at 300...As long as you know this, and maybe you already do, you will become a better shooter at long distances. Look at the ballistics chart for your caliber, grain to find this.

It's pretty fun dropping one @ 300

[bluffman2]

Ryan sorry you didnt find her....

Maybe get to know someone that has a dog.......we found many of "lost"deer with a good track dog!